World Inequality Lab - WID.world

🔴REPLAY available!

Watch Lucas Chancel's keynote from the ' conference, now online:

☑️ Latest findings on global

☑️ Reflections on billionaire

☑️ World Inequality Database's methodology and tools

▶️ Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=s&v=WffeqGy-LKI

This conference took place on April 8-9, 2025, in partnership with EU Tax Observatory and Institut des Politiques Publiques at Paris School of Economics - PSE

Keynote: Global Inequality Trends and Recent Findings from WID 🎤 Lucas Chancel (, Paris School of Economics) --------------------------------------The two-day International Conference on Taxing Billionaires, ...

🏆Indian economist Bina Agarwal received first Global Inequality Research Award in recognition of her pioneering work in the field of and .

The full replay of the ceremony and her lecture is now available here ▶️ https://youtu.be/bbZSAK_h5YA?feature=shared

Bina Agarwal received her prize in the presence of the World Inequality Lab's co-directors Lucas Chancel and Thomas Piketty. She gave a talk entitled "Hidden inequalities, visible outcomes. A gender lens".

This event was organized at Paris School of Economics - PSE in partnership with Sciences Po's Centre de Recherche sur les Inégalités Sociales (CRIS), and was part of the World Inequality Lab's .

Equality Debate: "Hidden inequalities, visible outcomes. A gender lens", with Bina Agarwal On March 19, 2025, Bina Agarwal, co-recipient of the 2024 Global Inequality Research Award (GiRA), received her prize and gave a lecture at Paris School of E...

2024 highlights 🪄
1️⃣ Making new available to the public 📊
We’ve released new global on wid.world. This complements the income, wealth and gender inequality data being updated annually. Maintaining the World Inequality Database is a collaborative effort that we consider being a public service. This would not be possible without the dedication of our growing team of coordinators and our 200 WID Fellows who have contributed their time and research🙏 But we also rely on governments and statistical agencies to publish more transparent and robust data⚠️
👉Explore 10 global inequality trends https://wid.world/news-article/10-facts-on-global-inequality-in-2024/
👉Meet the team https://wid.world/news-article/rowaida-moshrif-new-co-director-of-the-world-inequality-lab/

2️⃣Marking a turning point for global tax justice💸
The movement has gained traction, with public opinion and political will aligning to support it. We’re not there yet, but the momentum is undeniable! The proposal was put on the G20 agenda under the Brazilian Presidency in February, detailed in the Gabriel ZUCMAN's report in June, and endorsed by G20 finance ministers in November. Meanwhile, efforts continue to develop an inclusive and transparent on taxation. We look forward to continuing this work with partners EU Tax Observatory, ICRICT, Tax Justice Network.
👉 We'll co-host an international research and policy conference on "Taxing Billionaires" in April 2025 at Paris School of Economics

3️⃣ Bringing inequality to the forefront of India's election debate 🇮🇳
For months, the study co-authored by Nitin Kumar Bharti, Lucas Chancel, Anmol Somanchi, and Thomas Piketty made headlines and shaped discussions in India.
🔗Study: https://wid.world/news-article/inequality-in-india-the-billionaire-raj-is-now-more-unequal-than-the-british-colonial-raj/

4️⃣Enlightening the public debate🗣️
In a world where democracies face misinformation and the rise of far-right media influence, it's crucial to inform the public debate with evidence-based research. We continue to uphold this mission by organizing and participating in public events and engaging with the media. Striking a balance between staying true to our values and reaching broader audiences is essential. That’s why, while remaining on X, we’ve chosen to diversify our platforms by launching accounts on BlueSky and Instagram.
📺 Watch the Equality Debates on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsVwavkUhaqrcb8dB95C_1HRzY2Em4sMK
👉 Follow us on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/wid.world
👉 Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/world_inequality_lab/

5️⃣ Support us 🎁
We are deeply grateful to our funders - public and non-profit institutions - whose contributions make our work possible. Your support is crucial to continue advancing our mission. Thank you, and keep supporting us!
👉 Don’t hesitate to reach out https://wid.world/contact-us/

“It’ll be very difficult to convince middle class Indians to pay more tax if you don’t start asking billionaires to pay their fair share”, said our co-director Thomas Piketty 🇮🇳

📺 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEHIyJvEX5Q

📊 The discussion draws on findings from the World Inequality Lab’s study released earlier this year, that found that that “The “Billionaire Raj” is now more unequal than the British colonial Raj”🔗 https://wid.world/news-article/inequality-in-india-the-billionaire-raj-is-now-more-unequal-than-the-british-colonial-raj/

‘Govt can seize the assets of wealthy Indians that leave India to avoid a wealth tax’ A wealth tax in India is necessary to address the growing inequality, and the government has ways to make the wealthy pay their fair share, even if they leav...

📊 Curious about the latest data and insights? Watch this video! 🎥

The World Inequality Database provides open access to the most extensive available database on the historical evolution of the world distribution of income and wealth.

Updated annually by the World Inequality Lab and its global network of researchers, it represents the most current and coordinated effort to measure and track inequality worldwide.

2024: What's new in the World Inequality Database? The World Inequality Database provides open access to the most extensive available database on the historical evolution of the world distribution of income a...

🌍 The 2024 hashtag is now available on wid.world!

🚨What’s new this year?
We’ve expanded the World Inequality Database to include foreign income, foreign wealth, public revenue, and public spending, providing deeper insights into the dynamics of inequality worldwide.

Key takeaways from this year’s update:
1️⃣ The world has grown richer, but this hides huge regional disparities.
2️⃣ Income inequality remains significant within most countries.
3️⃣ Global income growth rebounded post-COVID.
4️⃣ The 10 richest economies per capita are mostly tax havens with small populations.
5️⃣ Rich countries benefit from an “exorbitant privilege” in the global financial system.
6️⃣ BRICS are now the largest economies (PPP), though not in market exchange rates (MER).
7️⃣ The world’s 10 poorest countries are also major global debtors.
8️⃣ Poorer nations spend little on public services but much on debt repayments.
9️⃣ Rich countries have the highest levels of public spending.
🔟 Despite progress in data collection, inequality measurement remains scarce, and inequality reduction slow.

👉 More insights here: https://wid.world/news-article/10-facts-on-global-inequality-in-2024/

Rejoignez-nous en ligne, le 5 décembre, pour un Débat de l'Egalité, en compagnie de Benjamin Lemoine, spécialiste de la financiarisation des États, qui a mené une enquête sociologique passionnante sur les "fonds vautours" à New York...

+d'infos par ici👉https://inequalitylab.world/en/event/chasseurs-detats/

« [En Europe], on part avec moins d’inégalités primaires et on finit avec moins d’inégalités après redistribution. Nous disposons d’un modèle social plus protecteur [qu'aux Etats-Unis] », conclut Lucas Chancel, co-directeur du World Inequality Lab.

▶️

L’Etat-providence redistribuerait-il plus aux Etats-Unis qu’en Europe ? Moins taxés, les Américains les plus pauvres seraient mieux lotis par le système de redistribution que leurs homologues européens. Mais affirmer cela, c’est ignorer des inégalités plus structurelles.

📈 Guido Alfani & Sergio Sardone collected new archival data to explore long-term trends in Southern Italy and compare them with other Italian and European regions.

Key finding:
👉Wealth and income was on the rise between 1550-1800 (see graph below showing the share of wealth of the top 10% in the Kingdom of Naples (Apulia) and other Italian pre-unification states, 1500-1800.
👉By 1750, Apulia was about as unequal as it could be without pushing a large part of the population below the subsistence level.

Read more: ▶️https://wid.world/news-article/wealth-and-income-inequality-on-the-rise-in-preindustrial-southern-italy-1550-1800/

Congratulations all for winning the ! Daron Acemoglu joined our last year to discuss with ou co-directors Thomas Piketty et Lucas Chancel.

📺The video replay is here: https://youtu.be/XBQEjfmfW2w?feature=shared

BREAKING NEWS
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2024 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity.”

This year’s economic sciences laureates – Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson – have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for a country’s prosperity. Societies with a poor rule of law and institutions that exploit the population do not generate growth or change for the better. The laureates’ research helps us understand why.

When Europeans colonised large parts of the globe, the institutions in those societies changed. This was sometimes dramatic, but did not occur in the same way everywhere. In some places the aim was to exploit the indigenous population and extract resources for the colonisers’ benefit. In others, the colonisers formed inclusive political and economic systems for the long-term benefit of European migrants.

The laureates have shown that one explanation for differences in countries’ prosperity is the societal institutions that were introduced during colonisation. Inclusive institutions were often introduced in countries that were poor when they were colonised, over time resulting in a generally prosperous population. This is an important reason for why former colonies that were once rich are now poor, and vice versa.

Some countries become trapped in a situation with extractive institutions and low economic growth. The introduction of inclusive institutions would create long-term benefits for everyone, but extractive institutions provide short-term gains for the people in power. As long as the political system guarantees they will remain in control, no one will trust their promises of future economic reforms. According to the laureates, this is why no improvement occurs.

However, this inability to make credible promises of positive change can also explain why democratisation sometimes occurs. When there is a threat of revolution, the people in power face a dilemma. They would prefer to remain in power and try to placate the masses by promising economic reforms, but the population are unlikely to believe that they will not return to the old system as soon as the situation settles down. In the end, the only option may be to transfer power and establish democracy.

“Reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time’s greatest challenges. The laureates have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for achieving this,” says Jakob Svensson, chair of the committee for the prize in economic sciences.

Learn more
Press release: https://bit.ly/4ew7Dbc
Popular information: https://bit.ly/47HfD72
Advanced information: https://bit.ly/4eiMXDD

Last April⭐️James K. Boyce⭐️ co-winner of the 2024 Global Inequality Research Award, gave a lecture at Sciences Po Paris.

He shared insights from his research on the links between and the , reflecting on the travels, encounters, and milestones that have shaped his intellectual journey.

Check it out👉 https://wid.world/news-article/james-k-boyces-inaugural-gira-lecture-on-inequality-and-the-environment-now-available/

James K.Boyce - Inequalities and environment ---Sciences Po is an international research university, both selective and open onto the world, ranking among the finest institutions in the fields of humani...